“Hello.”
“Hello~.”
I can only hear
echoes. I haven’t been dead for long, but I’m already used to
it. It’s difficult living alone in this
huge, dark house, but I’ve become used to that too. I was
surprised when I ‘woke up’ to find how broad my
vocabulary has grown, and even more so to find how great my
understanding of the world and myself grew when I
could view them from this new perspective. In the past, I
could speak and could reason, but now my thoughts are
much deeper and I can express them eloquently.
Nevertheless, I remember nothing of my own passing, and I have no
idea where my parents are. When I was living, they were so
over-bearing, but since that day, all I’ve had was my one
friend. Not that there was a shortage of potential friends;
people were always coming to see me, but when they did,
most ran off in fear (that’s okay though, I was just a curiosity
to them anyhow). Yet, while not everyone was so
panicky, those who cared enough to try and get to know me were picked
off by my friend. He’s always there for me;
he is always nearby…but when he leaves, I do feel a bit lonely.
“Aminah.”
Oh! He’s calling me. “Hello, Shaitan!” I said with a
smile. “How many times do I have to tell you,
don’t call me that.” he said curtly. “Well, you won’t tell me
your real name.” Shaitan isn’t my friend’s real name of
course, but I heard so many of the living flee in horror after
encountering him, screaming, “Shaitan, Shaitan!” or
something that sounds a lot like that. My friend isn’t a ghost
like me, Shaitan is a dark spirit. He took responsibility for
me immediately after ‘my day came’. The only problem is
every so often he requires me to do something for him.
“Aminah, I’m ready” he stated. As I looked up into his huge
ruby eyes, his large mouth opened and his giant hands
behind me beckoned me inside. Moments later, he suddenly
spat me out, looking quite frantic. “There’s a man at the
door, send him away! Banish him from our home or I will.”
he said, veiling himself as all spirits do around humans,
“He’s an exorcist come to kill me!” He won’t, I’ll make
sure of that.
When
the door creaked open, I saw the silhouette of a man just younger than
my father. “Hello~.” he lowed
sitting midway up the stairs. Bingo! I had a stroke
of inspiration; time to carry out Shaitan’s orders. As the man sat
unassuming, I brought a tangible darkness upon the house, a
blackness which could be felt. Not content to stop there I
also summoned the voices of those suffering in Hell to accost the
man from right and left (let me take a moment to say
that you sure get some cool abilities on this plane of reality),
yet none of this took the desired affect on him and he just
wrote something down in a little notebook. Time to pull out
all the stops. I then appeared to him, ‘in the flesh’, in a
grotesque, distorted form and approached him slowly. He was
scared, I know he was. I saw his face the second I
appeared and he was afraid…for but a second. Maybe he was just
startled because I appeared so suddenly. Now
standing (I hadn’t realized how tall he was) the man said, “I’ve
been told that this house, which collapsed, killing its
owners, ‘miraculously’ stood again four days later. Is that
true?” Is this guy dense? Isn’t he afraid? But what
did he
mean by collapsed? “Enough is enough,” he declared “my
clients specified that there are only two spirits in this house:
a demon and a little girl. You don’t ‘feel’ like any demon I’ve
met.” Hopping into human form, I giggled “You got me.”
Again, I saw his expression change momentarily, but not out of
fear.
Clearing his throat
and straightening his glasses, the man (named Malak, as I found out)
asked again, “So, is it
true?” “I don’t know anything about my death.” I replied “I
know even less about the history of my house.” Again he
wrote a note which read, ‘the death of a child is a hideous
thing, but goes to show that death doesn’t trifle about shallow
things like sex, race, or age.’ “Are you an exorcist,
Malak?” “I am a competent exorcist of all varieties of spirits,
but I
specialize in the salvation of childish souls.” So, I’m his
focus. Was Shaitan wrong? I suppose I’ll give this exorcist
a
chance, but only one. We talked for a short time before I
mentioned Shaitan. “Ah yes, the demon,” Malak said in a
bored voice, “I’m not so concerned with him, but I do have one
important question: are you happy with him?” What a
strange question, but I’m not sure how to answer. I’m not
unhappy with him, but our relationship is a bit sterile. “I love
him, but sometimes I doubt he cares about ‘me’ (meaning, who I am
and what I think).” “Nonsense, how could he not
be?” said he.
As he was yet speaking, Shaitan spoke to me and said, “’Enough is
enough.’ I will evict this man myself!” and
caused a mighty wind to expel Malak out a window. Malak
then called back to me, “I’ll come back later when he’s
calmed down.” And he was gone. After he left, I turned to
Shaitan and asked, “Why can’t I have friends outside of
you?” “Because he will steal you from me.” he
replied. “But you get to go to the netherworld freely and make as
many
friends as you want.” I argued “But for now I’m stuck in this
house…when you’re gone, I have no one.” Still, he would
not listen. Am I happy with him? I think I love him,
but is he even interested in who I am? He takes care of me, but
does he care about me? I love him, I’ll protect him, and
defend him, but…does he love me?
Later that night, the knock at the door startled me and I was surprised
to see Malak had returned after all. It
had only been six hours since he left. “Malak! I’m
glad you came back.” I said, but I was mostly surprised--many
exorcists vowed to return after Shaitan blasted them out, but
never did. I hadn’t realized I had been staring at him until
he spoke, “Is he here tonight?” “No, he’s seldom around
when it gets dark.” After a short silence, he asked me, “I’ve
had a headache for the last six hours. Are you offended by
my coming here?” What kind of question is that? “Some
spirits and devils,” he continued “have such abilities over
health. I can take a hint, so if you like I will not come back.”
“It’s okay. It’s not me.” He quickly wrote a short
note, ‘Ever since I met this girl, Aminah, my head has been killing
me. What’s going on here? Have I underestimated the
demon? Or is it really her?’ There followed a profound lapse
in our conversation during which I hadn’t realized his eyes were
fixed on mine. Does he like me? Or am I seeing things?
A chill. A sudden cold came over the room
which Malak hadn’t noticed and I saw an ethereal ribbon flow
between us which also Malak could not see. It can’t
be. Is Shaitan here? The ribbon slowly wrapped around
Malak’s
neck and cut off his breathing. Where is he?
“Shaitan, stop it!” I cried as I watched Malak gasping at my feet and
felt
(I could swear) my heart beat. I heard his laugh and
spotted Shaitan smiling contentedly as he tortured my new friend
. What can I do? I have to save him! Suddenly
delighted, Shaitan lifted Malak up and threw him across the room.
“Pitiful, pitiful!” he laughed. I ran to his side and
found him still breathing. I could barely hear him above Shaitan’s
laughter, but Malak said, “Where is he? If you tell me, I
can banish him temporarily…” and began chanting something
under his breath. Shaitan then let out an awful shriek and
charged at my new friend. It was then that I lost consciousness…
When I awoke, I found Malak reading an old book, muttering something in
a language I’ve never heard before.
“Imagine, a spirit losing consciousness.” he chuckled
grimly. Delirious, I started, “What happened? How did you…?”
“He’s gone for now, but the one who cast him away was you.
You’re amazing.” he said. “I hope he’ll be okay…” I
said neglecting to ask why he complimented me. After a bout
of coughs, Malak stated casually, “Normally, a demon is
armed only with psychological weapons and if you can keep a level
head, demons, ghosts, and devils have no power,
but your friend chose to attack me directly. I’ve never
encountered a demon with so much freedom…frankly, he
scared the hell out of me.” I replied, “I’ve never seen him
try so hard to harm anyone…I couldn’t control him. That’s
what scared me.” Was I wrong about Shaitan? I love
him, don’t I? I’m so confused. Without concealing his
injury at
all, Malak stood and made his way for the door. “Malak,
wait!” He looked me in the eyes once again. “Stay, play
with me.” An uncertain silence was broken by his voice,
“Certainly, that just so happens to be a highly effective method
of keeping away devils. Nevertheless, you will have to
stand up to him one day.” I just stared at him and he smiled and
said, “Luckily, that is irrelevant to today.”
Malak returned
day after day to play with me and I got to know him better and
better. One time, I even had
him stay over-night in my house and while he slept I ‘borrowed’
his notebook and read about his private thoughts. On
the very first pages was a story about how he chose his
career. It was so well-composed that it must have been revised
many times. It recounted how, as a child, he was possessed
by many dark spirits and overcame them and drove them
out through his own will-power. That’s amazing, but does he
expect me to do that with Shaitan? Impossible. Although
he has such faith in me, and although I do feel more confident
now, I have no such strength. At the very end of the
journal was a short entry, ‘My love for this one has grown too
strong, too fast…so much for being professional.’
My current life was filled
with joy by Malak’s consistency and the time he chose to waste on
me. I could feel
my heart growing stronger and it wasn’t often that I thought
about my life spent with Shaitan anymore. Nevertheless, I
could still see the smoke of a war billowing over the horizon and
I could sense Shaitan all around me, but he would not
appear. Why? Malak could sense him there too now and
declared, “Demons ‘wait for your unguarded hours.’ When
your shields are down, that’s when they strike. He can’t
stand against you now, so he’s not likely to attack you, but in
order for him to leave you for good, you need to attack and
defeat him.” I couldn’t say a word in response to that.
“Now’s your chance to overcome devils and demons, Aminah.
You’re not weak anymore, so stand tall.”
Malak then began
scattering salt around the room and reading from a red book a poem
recounting the demise
of a certain demonic army and I could hear Shaitan’s voice; that
shriek growing ever louder. I could see his eyes, those
two glowing rubies, from within a thick cloud of smoke. His
great hands appeared next and he grabbed me and pulled
me into the cloud. The cloud then solidified locking mortal
Malak out.
In the smoke there was no
trace of light. I couldn’t see Shaitan’s eyes anymore, but I knew
I was near his
mouth. I could feel his hot breath as he howled out curses
and accusations against me. “How could you betray me for
him?! I gave you much more valuable gifts: I saved your
life! I dispelled your sadness!” As he yelled these things
at me
I began to forget everything I learned from Malak and all the old
thoughts of: ‘he’s right,’ ‘he was always there for me,’
‘he was always with me,’ came rushing back. “I’m the one
you should love, not him.” Him? Who? The smoke, the
darkness is making me forget something important: something about
a ‘shield’, something about a ‘level head’. Who
told me that? Was it…?
When I finally remembered
him, I could see the situation clearly. I could remember my old
life. I could feel him
beside me. “Shaitan,” I said “You’re the one who killed my
parents, and you’re the one who destroyed my home.”
“What? You don’t know that. You couldn’t!” From
the midst of the darkness I could see a little light appear bigger
and bigger. “I’m not your slave anymore.” I said and
Shaitan responded, “Yes you are! You’re mine! Mine!!”
The
light was very bright now and I could see my old friend clearly,
the one who comforted me with pain and loneliness, and
as I stared at him I wondered why, back then, I needed him so
much. Gazing at the demon I understood and declared
to him, “You mean nothing to me. I need you no more.” And
he began to dissolve into the bright light. He let out one
final, terrible cry and was gone from my sight for good. He
wasn’t the real Shaitan after all, just as he told me. Shaitan
had no real power as the devil.
When I returned from
inside the smoke, I found Malak waiting for me, but he was different,
as I could relate to
him on the ‘spirit level’ for the very first time. It
couldn’t be! “Malak, you really were beside me, weren’t
you? Thank
you, but what about your life…” “Don’t fret about
that. I exerted that body because I wanted to support you,
something I could not do in that mortal state. It’s what I
believed in so, it’s nothing to feel bad about.” He died to help
me. Why? Could he really like me that much?
Overcome, I wrapped my arms around his legs (he’s so tall) and he
kneeled down and put his around me. O eternity, have you
blessed me with a friend so true? Heavens and Earth, is
this dear man truly my gift from you? O childish soul of
mine, this man is my gift to you.
The end.